Brazilians Split on Measures to Cut Inflation : Economics: Polls favor the president’s measures, but hard-hit unions, businessmen and middle-class consumers are complaining bitterly.

President Fernando Collor de Mello’s radical program to combat hyper-inflation has won overwhelming popular approval, opinion polls show, but it has also drawn bitter criticism from Brazilians whose interests are hurt.

Labor leaders are protesting layoffs, middle-class consumers are complaining about a freeze on savings deposits and some businessmen are indignant about arrests of supermarket managers on charges of “economic crimes.” An important Brazilian newspaper is comparing Collor to Benito Mussolini.

In a public opinion survey conducted by Ibope, Brazil’s leading polling firm, 89% of those interviewed said they want congress to approve Collor’s “provisional measures” against inflation, which was racing at more than 70% a month when he took office March 15.

The measures took effect the next day. If congress does not approve them by April 15, they will automatically expire, although Collor may reinstate them for an additional 30 days.

The program includes strict government controls on prices, a freeze on deposits of more than $1,200 in savings accounts and on assets of more than $600 in financial markets and jail terms for “abuse of economic power,” such as overpricing.

The freeze on financial assets has blocked cash flow in many companies, hampering their ability to meet payrolls and other obligations. It also has dried up demand for a wide range of products, from automobiles to clothing.

As a result, business has entered a deep slump, and some economists are predicting a recession. Although layoffs have not yet become widespread, thousands of workers have been dismissed and union officials express fear that unemployment will rise.

General Motors has put 15,000 workers in its Sao Paulo plants on early vacation for 18 days, and the Ford-Volkswagen consortium has put 27,000 on vacation for 5 days.

Several supermarket managers and executives have been detained for alleged overpricing. They include four members of the wealthy Verissimo family, owners of the Eldorado supermarket chain, accused of charging more than permitted for two products, a deodorant and a pastry dough. The four were put under house arrest.

Brazil’s independent attorney general has submitted a petition to the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of the measure that provides jail terms of two to five years for “abuse of economic power.”

Federal police and price control agents have invited television crews to cover inspection tours of supermarkets and other businesses, and critics say that at least some of the arrests were aimed at providing dramatic scenes for TV news programs.

Police and inspectors also raided the offices of Folha de Manha, the company that publishes the daily Folha de Sao Paulo, and detained two executives for questioning about alleged violations of provisions regulating the freeze on financial assets.

Folha de Sao Paulo had published critical reports on Collor during his presidential campaign last year. In a Sunday editorial, the newspaper said “the ‘Collor era’ is becoming a synonym for state oppression, totalitarianism, violence, arbitrariness and iniquity.”

The same edition included a full page of text and photos comparing Collor to Mussolini, the Fascist dictator of Italy half a century ago. And an editorial Monday said Folha “repudiates the fascism of the current chief of state.”

Collor’s program has also been criticized by public employees’ unions because it includes measures to reduce the size of government and to sell or close state corporations. Another measure is aimed at eliminating government subsidies and incentives, including tax breaks for companies that fund the arts.

Actress Esther Goes, speaking for a Sao Paulo cultural committee, said the government has “endangered culture and, therefore, the citizenry.”

An early sign that private support for the arts is endangered came with an announcement that the newly restored opera house in the Amazon city of Manaus has canceled a performance Thursday by international tenor Placido Domingo in Bizet’s “Carmen.” According to the opera’s organizers, companies in Manaus reneged on pledges to help pay costs.